Actually, regarding Lalas' statements you can probably adopt one of two standpoints as follows:
1. Lalas is a delusional rambling fool who overrates MLS and U.S. soccer in general and probably needs to have a sanity check. After all, this would be the same Lalas that said on air before last year's World Cup that the U.S. was a serious contender for the title.
2. Lalas is a shrewd calculating executive. He knows what to say at opportune moments to maximize publicity, and garner MLS and the Galaxy more media play and attention around the world.
I tend to fall into the second school of thought when it concerns Lalas. Reading between the lines, I don't think Lalas is seriously saying that MLS is on the same level as the EPL -- at least I hope not -- and it's doubtful that anyone associated with MLS truly believes that.
Lalas' outburst was possibly motivated partly from a PR perspective, and also in part to defend the integrity of the league. Recently, there's been slandering by various sections of the English media that have derided MLS as a "Mickey Mouse league" and compared the standard of play to that of English Conference level. Now that's a bit much -- while MLS clearly isn't ready to compete with EPL teams anytime soon, it's a ridiculous assertion that the standard of play in MLS is at the same level as those of English soccer's lowest tiers.
At the same time it's equally ridiculous of Lalas to assert that "There are a lot of stars who would struggle here [in MLS]." -- exactly who are these star players he's referring to? It certainly wouldn't be anyone that's still in their prime that's for sure. One only has to look at the success in MLS of average journeyman talents from England such as Danny Dichio and Terry Cooke as an example. Provided the player in question was in shape, motivated and stayed healthy, it's almost implausible that they couldn't play in MLS.
The other thing to bear in mind is that Lalas does accurately assert that the EPL is overrated. It's essentially a top-heavy league with four powerhouses, but top-to-bottom the technical quality, depth and play of the other teams simply don't compare to their counterparts in La Liga or Serie A.
That being the case, you could argue that Lalas has it half-right when he states that "I honestly believe if you took a helicopter and grabbed a bunch of MLS players and took them to the perceived best league in the world they wouldn't miss a beat and the fans wouldn't notice any drop in quality." Although this statement should come with a warning sign and asterisk -- we would be talking about replacing the EPL comedy players such as the Titus Brambles of the world, obviously not the John Terrys and of course the MLS players in question would need to be top-of-the-line performers, not just your average MLS starter.
So just how good is MLS really then? It's my feeling that the current standard of play in MLS compares favorably to that of the English championship, although there are definitely quite a few Premiership-caliber individuals playing in MLS at present. Teams like the Revs, the Red Bulls and the Dynamo could all compete respectably with teams like Sheffield Wednesday, Luton and Hull. It's a view that is backed by those I've spoken with who have professional experience in both leagues. For example, when I interviewed New England coach Steve Nicol a couple of years ago, I asked him if he felt the Revs (who had the best record in MLS at the time) could compete in the lower tier of the EPL. Nicol replied that he didn't think so and that he felt his team was more akin to a top-tier Championship team.